Resolved

Hello all,
A month ago I placed an order with Sci Fi lasers for a 1w 445nm 501b laser. The expected build time was estimated around 5-10 business days. 2 weeks after I purchased my laser, I had no update and the status of my order remained the same. I contacted Eitan about the issue and he responded with this message:

"Hi Jack ,

Sure we got that order.

It is being made now. We just had a holiday for a week. so could not finish it just yet.

Best Regards ,
Eitan."

I know holidays in Israel are more frequent and more wide scale than America in some cases, and I could understand this issue. 10 days later, I checked in again, asking about the shipping status, and Eitan responded with this :

"Let me check. Should be shipped by now."

He came back to me 3 days later, and said my order was made but he will ship it some time this week. It has been a month since I paid, and I have been delayed for 2-3 weeks now. I know he has tons of positive reviews, but I have some concern sending what is a lot of money to me to someone overseas, and my order keeps getting delayed. Does anyone have experience with this matter, and if so, what did you do to deal with the situation? I emailed him again today, (I try to space it out, week at a time) asking again about the status. I will update with any more info if I get it.

Re: Problems with Sci Fi lasers

I would be patient. He has been pretty busy recently. Overall he is a great guy that will work with you to get everything sorted out.

Re: Problems with Sci Fi lasers

There is unfortunately a holiday going on right now, called Sukkot, which does not end until October 4th. September-October are kind of the holiday season in israel, and they do delay things quite a bit.

All of which means he won't be able to ship until early next week. Ask him for a specific date of when it WILL BE shipped, and for a tracking number to be provided at the same time. Would not worry too much though, he is a reputable seller.

Re: Problems with Sci Fi lasers

I have ran into this several times when I order items internationally. You unfortunately timed placing your order just at the start of a long running holiday season. It backs everything up and then when they get back to work the carriers are overwhelmed with packages also. This created even more of a delay. It is tough to wait for sure and I am not making light of your concern. You will get it, it will just take longer than usual.

Re: Problems with Sci Fi lasers

jfrazz21 said:

Hello all,
A month ago I placed an order with Sci Fi lasers for a 1w 445nm 501b laser. The expected build time was estimated around 5-10 business days. 2 weeks after I purchased my laser, I had no update and the status of my order remained the same. I contacted Eitan about the issue and he responded with this message:

"Hi Jack ,

Sure we got that order.

It is being made now. We just had a holiday for a week. so could not finish it just yet.

Best Regards ,
Eitan."

I know holidays in Israel are more frequent and more wide scale than America in some cases, and I could understand this issue. 10 days later, I checked in again, asking about the shipping status, and Eitan responded with this :

"Let me check. Should be shipped by now."

He came back to me 3 days later, and said my order was made but he will ship it some time this week. It has been a month since I paid, and I have been delayed for 2-3 weeks now. I know he has tons of positive reviews, but I have some concern sending what is a lot of money to me to someone overseas, and my order keeps getting delayed. Does anyone have experience with this matter, and if so, what did you do to deal with the situation? I emailed him again today, (I try to space it out, week at a time) asking again about the status. I will update with any more info if I get it.

Click to expand...

I definitely wouldn't worry about getting burned. Eitan may be over worked and often behind on his orders but he is no crook. You will get your laser just not very quickly. For what its worth when I ordered my 445 it took close to 60 days to receive. From what I was told the problems were also with Jewish holidays and he wasn't able to get parts needed to finish the build. It was pretty frustrating but what can you do? Just need to be patient sometimes.

IMO I think Eitan has more work than he can handle at times and perhaps would be better off telling people upfront a more realistic lead time. You are not the first person to wait longer than were told but not one person has ever not received their laser from him and he does good work.

I have also waited over a month with other companies like O-like. CNI often takes at least 3-6 weeks. What I am saying is its not that uncommon. If you are like me, you would probably prefer to be told straight and up front that the build is behind. I also got multiple, "your build is done I just need to this or that and it will ship on Monday", Only to then be told on Tuesday the build is not done and another this and that is needed and it will go out on Friday. So on and so forth. It's not great business practices but I gave the man the benefit of the doubt. If more threads like yours keep rolling in then that benefit will not be given and he will need to fix the problem.

Long story short is Eitan is a great guy and a honest man, but to call a spade a spade, for his sake as well as his customers, he should be more upfront and accurate with estimated lead time. Luckily I'm pretty patient but I did get frustrated at having to wait 2 months. It may be something a person takes into account vefore they order when the maker is in a country that has a major holiday every month. Thats not his fault but it may be a reason I wouldn't order from Sci-Fi in the future.
Your laser is coming but in the meantime don't make threats like others have in the past. Its just bad form. Not saying you have but he someone did recently and its not good to do.

Re: Problems with Sci Fi lasers

jfrazz21 said:

Hello all,
A month ago I placed an order with Sci Fi lasers for a 1w 445nm 501b laser. The expected build time was estimated around 5-10 business days. 2 weeks after I purchased my laser, I had no update and the status of my order remained the same. I contacted Eitan about the issue and he responded with this message:

"Hi Jack ,

Sure we got that order.

It is being made now. We just had a holiday for a week. so could not finish it just yet.

Best Regards ,
Eitan."

I know holidays in Israel are more frequent and more wide scale than America in some cases, and I could understand this issue. 10 days later, I checked in again, asking about the shipping status, and Eitan responded with this :

"Let me check. Should be shipped by now."

He came back to me 3 days later, and said my order was made but he will ship it some time this week. It has been a month since I paid, and I have been delayed for 2-3 weeks now. I know he has tons of positive reviews, but I have some concern sending what is a lot of money to me to someone overseas, and my order keeps getting delayed. Does anyone have experience with this matter, and if so, what did you do to deal with the situation? I emailed him again today, (I try to space it out, week at a time) asking again about the status. I will update with any more info if I get it.

Click to expand...

I replied yesterday. Told you it was indeed shipped yesterday like promised.

Should send you that tracking code later today.

:beer:

Re: Problems with Sci Fi lasers

Hi,
I have to agree with E, tracking out of the Middle East is iffy. Its like buying a diode its luck of the draw. Besides just imagine if you were one guy taking orders to build lasers from all over the world then have to ship them. On top that wondering if customs will take them and prolong delivery.If customs takes a laser thats in transit, he has to build another to compensate for your losses and delivery time is prolonged again. Many parameters involved here so lighten up on the guy. If folks are in so much of a hurry to get a laser, start educating yourself and build it yourself while your waiting for a shipment from overseas to arrive. I usually don't speak like this but theres an old saying ( Shit happens!! )...

Rich

Re: Problems with Sci Fi lasers

I haven't looked on your site before saying this but you really need to at least put up delays on your opening page such as holidays, shipping, back-logged builds, going away etc... to be fair to your customers.
Yes you seem to always make it right in the end but there are continuous complaints about this. Sure, you may lose some business when someone doesn't want to wait that long for their unit but it's better in the long run than having a lot of people all of a sudden coming together out of frustration and not recommending you anymore. It should certainly help with lowering the # of complaints to you and the forum.
Just say I'm a very busy person and a life outside of this place, just like you I have other obligations and I have some stretches of time that I am away and can't build. I also have to deal with a lot of orders and I take pride in making sure everyone's build is done correctly and a quality product. There are numerous holidays here and some last significant periods of time in which the post office is shut down and then there's a huge in-rush of mail that they are very slow dealing with besides the fact that their service is pretty terrible. I'm trying to do my best but I am overwhelmed at times and it just makes it impossible with all these factors to guarantee a date when you will receive your order so please take this into consideration as I'm doing the best I can with the facts of what I'm up against.
Or something like that....

Re: Problems with Sci Fi lasers

Pman said:

I haven't looked on your site before saying this but you really need to at least put up delays on your opening page such as holidays, shipping, back-logged builds, going away etc... to be fair to your customers.
Yes you seem to always make it right in the end but there are continuous complaints about this. Sure, you may lose some business when someone doesn't want to wait that long for their unit but it's better in the long run than having a lot of people all of a sudden coming together out of frustration and not recommending you anymore. It should certainly help with lowering the # of complaints to you and the forum.
Just say I'm a very busy person and a life outside of this place, just like you I have other obligations and I have some stretches of time that I am away and can't build. I also have to deal with a lot of orders and I take pride in making sure everyone's build is done correctly and a quality product. There are numerous holidays here and some last significant periods of time in which the post office is shut down and then there's a huge in-rush of mail that they are very slow dealing with besides the fact that their service is pretty terrible. I'm trying to do my best but I am overwhelmed at times and it just makes it impossible with all these factors to guarantee a date when you will receive your order so please take this into consideration as I'm doing the best I can with the facts of what I'm up against.
Or something like that....

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That's a really good idea Pete. I think in the long run at the very minimum it will make life a lot easier for Eitan and sigficantly cut down on repeated emails from frustrated customers. Most people like myself won't mind waiting when they are told so and loosing a few customers IMO is better than having a bunch of un happy customers. I also don't think he will loose that much buisness but rather get good reviews that their laser was delivered in the time frame expected.
Good luck Eitan.

Eitan has given me a tracking # and an ETA of around 1-2 weeks. Looking forward to receiving my laser. I agree that notifications pertaining to time away/upcoming holidays are great for both him and the customer. If Eitan put "Upcoming holiday, orders may be delayed" on his site, I still would have bought from him because I know his customer service and workmanship are quality. I think he would highly benefit from this idea, and I think it would make his business a lot less stressful/consuming.